Para canoeist Choi Yong-beom carries the South Korean national flag, Taegeukgi, during the closing ceremony of the Paris Paralympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, on Sunday. (Korea Paralympic Committee)
The Paris Paralympics have drawn to a conclusion, with South Korea having surpassed its gold medal target.
South Korea finished the 12-day competition that ended Sunday in 22nd place with six gold medals, 10 silver medals and 14 bronze medals. The Korea Paralympic Committee, which sent 177 athletes and coaches to Paris, had set out to win five gold medals.
At the previous Paralympics in Tokyo in 2021, South Korea had managed only two gold medals, its fewest total in over four decades.
Half of the gold medals at the Paris Paralympics came from shooting. Park Jin-ho was the country’s lone double gold medalist, thanks to his titles in the men’s 10-meter air rifle standing (SH1 classification) and 50m rifle 3 positions (SH1) events.
Jo Jeong-du grabbed the other shooting gold medal for South Korea in the men’s 10m air pistol (SH1). It was also South Korea’s very first gold medal of the competition.
South Korea swept up 14 medals in para table tennis, more than any other sport, with Kim Young-gun (MS4) and Kim Gi-tae (MS11) winning gold medals in the men’s singles. Kim Young-gun’s gold, which came Saturday, was South Korea’s sixth gold medal.
Jeong Ho-won captured the men’s individual (BC3) gold medal in boccia, extending South Korea’s gold winning streak in the sport to 10 Paralympics.
Away from competition, South Korean Paralympian Won Yoo-min was elected to the Athletes’ Council at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) on Saturday.
With 296 votes, he ranked fourth among 25 candidates in voting by fellow Paralympic athletes and became one of six new members for the council. He will serve a four-year term and will represent the interests of Paralympians while providing feedback to the IPC.
Won, 36, emigrated to Canada at age 12 and represented the country in wheelchair basketball at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. Won recovered his South Korean nationality in 2017 and competed in para nordic skiing for his native country at the 2022 Winter Paralympics.
